Straightened Hooks Thats Fishing

[Tropicaltrout]

I keep reading about guys who spend all the time and money on changing the trebbles on their big lures for barra etc. This was a great sales pitch from a tackle shop operator? I have never changed split rings on my lures I always carry spares but never change them. I probably would if they were the cheap bin lures at certain big tackle outlets, but all the major brands are fine we have caught big barra, mackrel, wahoo, and jacks but never straightened the hooks, I understand it happens and i have had it happen but it just like the line breaking or a knott pulling, thats fishing, on a recent trip up to Awoonga i was asked if i had changed my trebbles i said no why, They said becuase they are cheap and they will staighten, oh well crap, we got 5 fish at awoonga and callide that trip and use the same lures and never had one problem.

I know it happens as i said but that is fishing and money saved is money for fuel to get there!

What are your thoughts on the issue?

Cheers TT

[ssab1]

im with you, never had a treble straighten, keep hoping though, just so i can say ,bugger straightened the hooks,can only hope cause it will be a hell of a fight.cheers alex

[mylestom]

Well no expert but do change my rings and trebles.

We got busted off often enough in the NT in the 80's to realise that the number of fish lost was worth the effort to upgrade.

In those days it was the Eagle Claw 3x which were the strongest available.

Nowadays its the Owner 4x but at the price do most of mine with VMC 6X. You will still get some problems. But depends on the individual set up that happens.

Size of Lure.
Size of Fish.
Where caught Mouth or down the throat (most will tail walk).

External hookup tend to stay down. Just personal experience but thats what we have observed. I am sure other have a more experienced viewpoint.

Then you have line class, mono or braid main line, type of leader and where you are hooked up.

Then you have experience and drag setup.

How far from the boat when you hook up.

Also out in the open or into the scrub like up the back of Monduran.

All these factors will test your equipment.

If you are having reasonable success and are happy with your present setup why change.

Story
Last Trip to Awoonga, an old tourist pull up beside us.

He was going out to catch his first barra.

Not much of a boat or outfit.

Lots of people advised him that his surf rod and 4inch Alvey with 16lb mono would not work.

Couple of hours later back he came with his first fish, a metre plus barra.

Goes to prove, find what suits you and your pocket, then just go out and catch the fish.

No recommendations, just experience will teach you the best way to go.

Lots of top people like John Mitchell, Jas, Brett, Lindsay, Harro and Jack Erskine. Plus numerous other have upgraded there setup, yes some different but they do it for a reason.

Perhaps it means less stress on the fish and themselves, or just a more enjoyable time on the water.

Find what works for you, then you might let us all know what is the best setup.

Then the fish will get bigger and we all go back to square one.

Yep and I really enjoy trying to at least keep up with what is being achieved thanks to the stocking of impoundments and wildfishing for them.

Trev

[thunnus]

We spend $20,000+ on our boats, hunderds of bucks on our rods and reels and buy the best lures we can for that fish of a lifetime.....then wimp out on spending 20 bucks on some super sticky strong trebles?

Doesnt make sense, sure in most cases the hooks supplied with most lures will do the job but for the extra few dollars per lure why risk it?

cheers, Justin

[killitfillit]

mate just got back from monduran and had hooks straightened and split rings removed and lures broken and 80lb leader chaffed through and caught 40 plus barra to120cm.upgrade or lose

[TinarooTriumph]

You will find me on wet rainy days, or evenings working on my fishing gear... I don't mind friggin around with fishing tackle thats for sure - Im obsessive if anything and I think you have to be. Unless it's a top brand lure that im purchasing (Predatek, RMG, Classic, you get the point), then I will change the Split rings and Trebles on them when I get home as they are too flimsy - Period. Id hate to lose a horse of a fish and then retreive my lure to the boat and find that it's missing treble's or they have been straightened etc. That would hurt!

I have seen a few fish, not much bigger then a metre make a treble look like a sewing needle. If I had the $$$ to get Owners I would, but I have to settle with what I can buy. I usually get 80lb Arafura rings for my lures, and extra stong Gladiator hooks which do the job just fine! Cheap and tough... Put's a smile on my face.

[Tropicaltrout]

cheers guys for your replies, but 20000 on a boat, hundreds on rods and reels and lures, mate i wish i had your money, but hey go for it the shop will love ya. i love the fact of going fishing being fairly simple have good gear that last a life time and be just that fishing tie a leader wether you use a haro knotted dog, jack eskin twist or a sraight leader, attach it to your lure throw it in the water and hopfully catch a fish. blokes catch big fish on fly and from time to time the hooks straighten but that not because it was 40 feet long and pulled like a cargo ship, its what you do at that point of impact that decides what goes on, same with lures. anyhow mybe a fish will prove me wrong one day but thats fishing. and the fish of a life time is always the next one you catch!

TT

[Thommo73]

Went fishing at Faust recently. Had trebles straightened and split rings destroyed...also had the wire ripped right out of the middle of a lure.

Mate had a fizzer destroyed also....looked like someone had smashed it with a hammer.

[rivermanau]

Got to agree that its a sound investment to upgrade . I was up at Monduran recently, starting chucking some smaller lures, my mate had a small deep diving Bomber pulled apart, I had a medium size fish half beat when I felt it dive, twist its head and straighten the hook. The hook was a standard weight VMC. The run of fish we were getting was around the 70-80 cm so it applies to the small models as well.
If you are going for tree dwelling fish you've got to upgrade.
Rob

[setthehook]

Its simple. The trebles on most lures of the wall will catch fish but serious fish such as barra will often straighten the trebles and open the rings. It is the anglers choice as to wether they want to invest furth cost and time in changing to stronger trebles and rings. In my opinion if i land a few fish each year that normaly i would have lost then its worth it. This is my first barra season and i have had hooks straighted and rings open. So i know there is a possibilty that it will happen so i choose to upgrade. I feel very confident when hooked up to 60lb's of barra knowing i have quality all the way to the pointy end!!

You dont need to spend thousands to make it worth it.

$60 car fuel.......$40 boat fuel.......snacks on the way $20...... 2 days of your time and energy.......hooked only 1 barra to loose it to a open treble instead of spend $3.00 to upgrade it??? seems silly to me.

[McCod]

Good hooks are the go mate.... but it depends on how serious you want to be?? If ya don’t mind loosing a few fish then the standard hooks are fine. It’s a big difference between trolling with mid drag setting to heavy timber fishing with 6 or more KG drag settings….. Even tho most of the time the hook damage is caused by leverage from the top and bottom jaw opening and closing!! I’ve spent over $500 on Owner hooks in the last 4 years or so and I reckon they have increased boated fish by over 25% due to the upgrade. Only need a few packets tho if ya don’t want to spend up big… Just change the hooks from lure to lure.Anyone want to buy several hundred unused Mustard and 3X strong VMC's trebles ;D

Cheers Les

[eotbmg]

I have upgraded all Barra lurres to owner split rings and trebles. Why put in all the effort to go and have it spoilt by a small thing like a bent treble or ring. I reckon if you pay attention to detail with knots line and terminal tackle you should land the majority of the fish you hook.
Wellsys sell the owners for about 6 bucks for 6 hooks. Not much to pay for peace of mind.
LES-Maybe we can sell the other trebles back to the lure companies.
Cheers Ben

[Awoonga]

Ok.... enough is enough.....No more Owners... Vmc x6 ...Standard hooks are the GO....And line class 10lb.No leaders.... All lures with three sets of trebles one must be taken off....What about one hand tied behind your back...All knots to be tied in the dark....Dodgy knots thats the go....What about Boats lets ban em......bank fishing only.....Guna write a letter...Dear bloke that looks after fishin....Too many fish being caught at Monduran and Awoonga as for that matter every where else.......you need to bring in some new laws... yep ... soon as....Mindless dribble you say....Whats he on about......Well gee ...so you dont want to upgrade you hardware....thats fine....dont....but l for one living on the banks of Awoonga find this thread wierd ... people come from around the world to catch a fish of a lifetime...we try to help them by increasing the odds in the fishermans favour....

[WHITTO]

;D ;DG'Day Les, Shit thats not a bad idea, Im gunna set up a stall at the dirt Boat ramp at Monduran and sell off all my replaced VMC trebles, could be a littler earner in this, Cheers Whitto :D :D PS Hows the MOZZIE going

[Tropicaltrout]

Well what a responce, it certainly a topic of intrest, McCod (LES) you make sence as do most of you, if your up in the sticks with the drag locked down i can see how they would staighten, and agree in upping the anti 100%,and i understand all of your point and whittnessed accounts but in general use through are they strong enought. well my next trip to faust it might happen, and i will eat my words, and the owners will go on but it was interesting to se other people thoughts. what are owner hooks made of?

Well Awoonga if you want to have a dig, pm me. stupid comments are not needed. I was interested in people thoughts on trebbles as i have never had the problem, and have not seen it first hand, and everyone gave a logical educated answer except you. ;)

TT

[Awoonga]

MMMM...No pm needed...Yes uneducated answer and yes Not Logical...Thats one thing that l ain,t Logical....Your first post was about the sales pitch ...Saying that the salesman was telling you to upgrade your hooks/splitrings.... the guy was trying to help you !!! Next you state that the major lure brands hardware are ok So why do most of us change them ???...Because most of us have lost fish because of the hardware that they come standard with...Why do we tell the guys that ask here on Ausfish what to do what to use ???.We are trying to help the average joe blow that fishers inpoundments....Giving them the best chance possible....As you can see by most of the guys that answered you post they change there hardware... McCod. Set the hook... Witto all good fisherman....So you can keep the standard hardware thats fine...But it will happen..... sure as eggs.....you will lose fish....the odds are in the fishers favour......

[black_sheep]

Horses for courses.

Everyone fishes quite differently and uses different gear. As a lot of fishos said, it all comes from experience and if you getting hooks straightened, change them. If you aren't having that problem - don't change.

When we first started fishing for Barra, we would only have hooks straightened once in a while but that was also using beefed up bass gear (4-5kg rods with calcutta 100/200's (max 3kgs drag) and 20lb braid with 40-60lb leader so gear would usually fail before hooks straightened. Now I use 8-15kg rod with reels capable of 8kgs drag and 78lb braid with 80lb leaders and for me, VMC 6X's are worthless when fishing this heavy and in the timber - trebles are the weak point now. Owners are the only option for us and they do still occassionally get straightened. Hardly upgrade splits as a lot of lures are coming out with the 3 coils.

Here's food for thought - why doesn't a lure manufacturer give us the option of buying lures with all the hardware attached (for those who are happy with the standard) or minus splits and trebles for a couple of bucks cheaper - I know which ones I'd buy. I know, it means less money in the pocket of lure manufactures but surely there's a manufacturer that thinks about the angler ;) ;)Who am I kidding ;D ;D

[wheezer]

thats it fire up trev!! Les nailed it...jaw pressure alone from a barra of a lifetime is enough to destroy just about any treble...for the sake of a few bucks i can't believe anyone wouldn't bother upgrading. did a trip up into the cape earlier this year and even barely legal barra were making mincemeat of 3X VMC's...another big plus of the owners in particular is that they are 'sticky' they seem to find their mark and not let go better than anything else. since switching to all owner trebles in both bass and barra fishing i have barely dropped a fish...and to me that's priceless..JMO

[Thommo73]

I fished Faust a few weeks ago and used soft plastics for about 90% of the time. I did get smashed on a small rapala and it ripped the treble straight out of the split ring. I sat down and replaced the split ring and hook and then kept fishing with the same lure. Then got smashed and the fish ripped the whole wire out of the lure.

Lets face it. Barra don't muck about, especially the big ones.

I barely got by with 80lb leader...they were scoffing the plastics all the way down.

[Tropicaltrout]

Wow thommo73 love faust i will get there again next year, love that place! Black sheep thats a great idea, the next lure builder should take that on board.

Awoonga, well fella I will post it when it happens. I can see how locked drags up in the sticks will do it, and all of these guys as well as you have had it happen maby i have been lucky. well as i said, i carry spares and always got the camera so i will take a photo of the straight one then replace it. I do a trip to faust , awoonga, callide, every year so maby next year.

[nuggstar]

i have had bream bend hooks on me ;D replace trebbles 4 pice of mind ;)

[black_sheep]

Tropical trout - mate, if you happy with the conversion rate using standard hooks, stick with it mate - money in your pocket as far as I'm concerned. As mentioned, I only use Owners now as for me, a big barra lost is a thousand sleepless nights - I am suffering severe insomnia ;D

[McCod]

;D ;DG'Day Les, Shit thats not a bad idea, Im gunna set up a stall at the dirt Boat ramp at Monduran and sell off all my replaced VMC trebles, could be a littler earner in this, Cheers Whitto :D :D PS Hows the MOZZIE going

Gday mate! how's things? Mozzie's going great!! Have ya been tormenting any Barra of late? Catch ya on the water some day!

Cheers Les

[still_water]

TT we all have our days on the water, some good some not so good.
I personally upgrade as even the VMC 6x get done over, I like the owners but they do modify the action on some lures.
At times I do not have to change a hook for days. Then there are those days , where all I seem to be doing is replacing either 1 to 2 trebles on every second lure all day long.
It's a personal thing , but in my game a Fish in the boat is worth 10 lost in the Jungle.
(JMO)

Brett.

[WHITTO]

G'Day Les, Had a ball on Monduran on the 9th of this month just before the Comp, we got 8 nice barra biggest was 98cm and the smallest was 85cm, lost 2 right at the boat, what a day and half, can't wait to get back, will catch up next time,good fishing Les, Cheers Whitto

[ssab1]

missed you, bugger, i ll get you next time, :) :) gee i love my fishing might take up catching one day. ;)for now, early releases dont bother me ,aways tomorrow. each to their own i lose enough lures now.cheers alex

[setthehook]

good topic this one. When i moved up here this year i thought hmmmm ill upgrade all my trebles to VMC 6X and ill be laughen!!
pffffffff first trip to awoonga they were destroyed!!!

So ok ill pull all the vmc's of and go with OWNER as they are the best in my opinion.

Much much better!!!

But just to give you an idea on the crunch and munch power from a barra this shot is of destroyed OWNERS!!!!!

And that was at monduran not awoonga! Imagine what it would have done to stock hooks ;D
And for the record i got the fish!!

Go the OWNERS!!!!

[SULLY73]

Maybe if I didn't upgrade to owners I might have got the rest best!

[setthehook]

;D classic!!!

[scott_b]

2nd ever hook up barra at Prosy , the first was 81cm about 15 min before and I have a piccy.
wamjam

[scott_b]

3rd ever barra hook up 6x vmc and halco rings on a new lure 12 min later 107 cm and got a pic of the fish, heres the lure. The back hook had to be left in the fish.
wamjam

[roydsy]

I often replace factory standard hooks after they have had some time and action in the water. Most of the fish I target don't mangle gear, but having said that on one or two occasions I have seen a few of my trebles and lures mangled by jacks. I see the value in better hooks and i carry spares and split rings in my tackle box. But replacing them straight out of the packet, now I feel like i being wasteful.

Also, can anyone tell me if they flatten out the barbs on their trebles for fish conservation and safety? I am warming to the idea. After having put a treble through my thumb i see value in flattening them, do you?

[BR65]

Roydsy, starting to do that now with my sp jigs for the lizards, makes c & r a heap easier and quicker, which has to be good for the fish.
I have worn a few hooks over the years, worst being a 6/0 thru the finger with 7 kilos of knobby hanging off the other hooks in the gang, and every time I swear I will flatten ALL barbs on my hooks, but still dont do it.

[BR65]

Sorry, side track to the original thread.
Upgrade terminal tackle or suffer the consequences eventually.
Mid size barra did this

[barramad.]

Dont have to be big fish to stretch owners. Ive caught plenty of sub 70's that open up ST 66TN owners. It doesnt always come down to how hard you pull on them, as already stated jaw pressure is the force at play here, open water or in the jungle.

"Straightened hooks thats fishing"? To me its not. Poor preperation? Yes purely and simply in my book.
Process of weak link elimination will change the odds to your favour.
Its a long way to travel for a lot of people (even the 20 minutes is too far for me!) only to be let down by dodgy terminals.

I personally wont accept "acceptable loss" to something that Im in control of.
There are too many other variables that work against you in any given scenario.

TT, understand your point regarding the hard sell............seems a lot of that goes on these days. Can be hard to pick through that.
I also agree a lot of lures are fine with standards for fish like Cobes, Macks and the like, but Barra are not like those fish. They are nowhere near as hard on the pointy end as them either. I (and many others) believe that Barra would be one of the most ruthless fish that swims when it comes to terminal tackle wear and tear.

If its working for you, happy days. You also may not be as serious about your fishing as some of us, and purely enjoy the experience of being on the water having a dig.
But that noise I can hear is Awoonga's Barra's lining up to eat your lure mate, because they have been given a wild card for early release. :D
In saying all that, as Navi said, if your happy,then stick with it. The only person you need to please is yourself.
Happy fishing
JW

[wheezer]

Dont have to be big fish to stretch owners. Ive caught plenty of sub 70's that open up ST 66TN owners. It doesnt always come down to how hard you pull on them, as already stated jaw pressure is the force at play here, open water or in the jungle.
JW

agree with Jas here...monduran a week or so ago got a 72cm fish that opened up 2 of the 3 trebles and split rings (owner of course with standard halco splits on RMG) needless to say i was quite suprised...drag pressure was not unduly high 4-5kg although a fair bit of thumb was needed as it was hooked in some pretty suicidal country ;D